Grain-drill.



"No. 694,499. Patentad'Mar. 4, 1902.

' A. 9mm.

GRAIN DRILL.

(Application filed Dec. 13, 1901.;

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. Patented Mar'. 4, I902, A. SMITH.

GRAIN DRILL.

(Application filed Dec. 13, 1901.)

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(No Model.)

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U ITED STATES PAT NT OFFICE.

AMOS SMITH, OF VIENNA CROSSROADS, OIIIO.

GRAIN-DRILL.

srEcIFIoATIoN forming part of LettersPatent No. 694,499, dated March. 4, 1902. Application filed December 13, 1901. Serial No. 85,768. (No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, AMOS SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Vienna Cross roads, in'the county of Clark and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grain-Drills, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to grain-d rills and the like, and more particularly to the mechanism whereby the pivoted drag-bars which carry the furrow-opening devices are raised and lowered.

My present invention has for its object to provide a construction which shall be simple and effective and at the same time free from the objections pertaining to the constructionusually employed for this purpose in such machines.

To these ends my invention consists in certain novel features which I will now proceed to describe and will then particularly point out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a graindrill embodying my invention in one form. Fig. 2 is a plan View of a portion of the same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of a portion of Fig. 1. Fig. 4: is a plan view of what is shown in Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a detail rear elevation.

In the said drawings, 1 indicates the main frame, supported on the carrying-wheels 2 and provided with the hopper or seedbox 3. To the front end of this frame are pivotally connected at their forward ends the dragbars 4, carrying the furrow-opening devices 5, which may be of any suitable description, disks being shown in the present instance. Each drag-bar is also provided with a boot or seed-conduit 6, to which the seed is fed from the hopper or seedbox 3 by means of a tube 7. Each drag-bar is connected, by means of a pivoted link 8, with an arm 9. from a rockshaft 10, mounted on the main frame 1. The construction which Iprefer to employ is that shown, in which the link 8 is pivoted at its lower end to the boot or drag-bar and has mounted on it a spring 11, bearing at its lower end against an abutment 12 on the link and at its upper end against a sliding collar or abutment 13, to which the arm 9 is pivoted.

The upward movement of the collar 13 is limited by a pin or other suitable abutment 14, which is adj ustably secured to the upper end of the link. These parts may be of any suitable description, and it is to the mechanism for actuating the rock-shaft 10 that my present invention more particularly relates.

In machines of this character, as ordinarily constructed the rock-shaft 10 is operated by means of a lever secured thereto and moving through an arc of about ninety degrees, being upright when the drag-bars are depressed or in-working position and horizontal when the drag-bars are raised from the ground. Sometimes the rock-shaft is placed in front of the seedbox, and the operating-lever is sometimes mounted centrally on the rockshaft and sometimes at one end thereof. In any of these positions this operating-lever is inconvenient and even dangerous. Thelever is necessarily long, in order to give sufficient leverage, and if placed centrally it projects above the feed box in such a manner as to materially interfere-with the filling and inspection of the same when said lever is in a vertical position. When thelever is central and is depressed .it projects rearward beyond the machine to a considerable distance and is not only in the way, particularly in going from one end of the machine to the other, but is also dangerous by reason of its lying in the path of the operator, who may readily run against it or be struck by it. If the lever be placed at either end of the rock-shaft, it is still objectionable on account of its length and, furthermore, on account of the fact that it interferes with the gearing, which is usually located there. To overcome these objections, I have devised the construction hereinafter set forth, in which there is secured on the rock-shaft 10, preferably near its center, a gear or gear-segment '15. The

rear cross-bar of theframe is provided adjacent to this gear-segment with a bracket 16, having therein a bearing 17, in which is mounted a stud-shaft 18, carrying on its front end a pinion 19, which meshes with the gearsegment 15. Thesegmentandpinionarepreferably beveled, as shown. The shaft 18 has also connected therewith an operating-lever 20, and said shaft, pinion, and operatinglever may, if desired, be cast integral or in all a single piece. It will be understood that the bevel-pinion is of a radius about one-half of that of the gear-segment. The bracket 16 is also provided with a locking-segment 21, while the lever carries a spring locking-bolt 22, adapted to engage therewith and operated by means of alink 23, connected to said bolt and to a tripping-lever 24:, pivoted on the operating-lever 20,near the handle 25 thereof. As already stated, the gear-segment is of greater diameter than the pinion, thereby increasing the power applied to the rock-shaft 10, and thereby enabling me to correspondingly reduce the length of the operating-lever 20. Moreover, the operating-lever has a range of movement of about onehundred and eighty degrees as against the movement of ninety degrees of the lever ordinarily employed, and I am therefore enabled to gear up the connection with the rock-shaft in the manner just described. It will be seen that the lever moves in a plane transverselyof the machine and parallel with the rock-shaft and that in either of its two most usual positionsto wit, with the drag-bars completely depressed and with them completely raisedsaid operatinglever lies close to the frame, parallel with and immediately adjacent to the rear cross-bar thereof, where it is out of the way and not dangerous toanyoneworkingaround the machine. The lever only assumes a vertical position momentarily in passing from one position of the drag-bars to the other, and even then in this momentary vertical position its reduced length renders it unobjectionable. This reduction of the length of the lever does not, however, involve any increased difficulty in operating the'drag-bars owing to the gearedup connection between said lever and the rock-shaft. I am thus enabled to locate the lever at the central part of the rock-shaft, where its power is most advantageously applied thereto, and at the same time avoid the objection attendant upon locating said lever at either end of the shaft, as well as objections heretofore pointed outas attendantupon the use of a longer lever rigidly connected with the rock-shaft.

I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precise details of construction hereinbefore described, and shown in the accompanying drawings, as it is obvious that said details may be modified without departing from the principle of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. The combination, with a main frame and drag-bars pivotally connected therewith, of a rock-shaft mounted on said frame and operatively connected with the drag-bars, a gear or gear-segment secured on said rock-shaft, and a lever mounted to swing transversely of the machine and provided with a pinion meshing with said gear or gear-segment, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a main frame and drag-bars pivotally connected therewith, of a rock-shaft mounted on said frame and operatively connected with the drag-bars, a gear or gear-segment of relatively large diameter secured 011 said rock-shaft, and a lever mounted to swing transversely of the machine through an arc approximating a semicircle and provided with apinion of relatively small diameter meshing with said gear or gear-segment, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a main frame and drag-bars pivotally connected therewith, of a rock-shaft mounted on said frame and operatively connected with the drag-bars, a gear or gear-segment secured on said rock-shaft, a lever mounted to swing transversely of the machine and provided with a pinion meshing with said gear or gear-segment, and means for locking said lever, substantially as described.

et. The combination, with a main frame and drag-bars pivotally connected therewith, of a rock-shaft mounted on said frame and operatively connected with the drag-bars, a gear or gear-segment secured on said rock-shaft, a bracket mounted on the main frame and provided with a bearing and locking-segment, a shaft mounted in said bearing at right angles to the rock-shaft and provided with a pinion to mesh with the gear or gear-segment,

and an operating-lever connected with said shaft, swinging transversely of the machine and'provided with means for engaging the locking-segment, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

AMOS SMITH.

\Vitnesses:

IRVINE MILLER, WILL OLAUGHLIN. 

